The Machine
by Darkness on the Water
Summary: After a long day at school, the last thing Danny needs is his parents wanting to show him yet another crazy invention...Oneshot


Yet another random one-shot from me; one of these days I'll get around to writing a full fic, promise!

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

-The Machine-

Daniel Fenton walked through the front door of his house, throwing his back-pack off to one side as he headed into the kitchen for an after-school snack. No one else seemed to be home, so he helped himself to whatever looked safest in the fridge. He pulled out an orange and a block of cheddar cheese, sitting down at the kitchen table to enjoy his food.

The young halfa was just about to take a bite out of the cheese when a loud explosion reverberated through the house, smoke trailing up from the laboratory in the basement. Curious to see what had happened, he carefully slid his way down the stairs, peering around the corner. Both of his parents stood over a curious-looking invention, seemingly unfazed by the explosion they had just caused.

Knowing the invention was probably dangerous to him, Danny kept his distance, instead settling on spying on his parents from a safe distance. His father scratched at his head confusedly, peering down curiously at the strange machine.

"I just don't know what went wrong this time, I was sure that we'd gotten it right." Maddie didn't answer him, instead reaching for a wrench and re-adjusting a few bolts on one side. A side plate fell off into her hand, and she smiled triumphantly.

"Here's the problem! You never connected the motor to the ecto-energy; all I need to do is connect these two wires, and……there!" she bolted the panel back into place and stepped back, proudly surveying their contraption.

"Go ahead and turn it on, Jack, it should work now." Both of them placed their goggles over their eyes, and Jack leaned forward and flipped a switch on the side. A soft humming was heard, and the machine glowed a bright green. Shielding his eyes, Danny waited for an explosion, but nothing happened.

"Jack, we did it!" Maddie hugged Jack enthusiastically, a bright smile lighting up her face. Jack beamed down at their invention; Danny hadn't seen his parents so happy since he'd 'fixed' the Fenton Portal.

"Oh, we should show Danny! Let's go upstairs and find him, I'm sure he's home from school by now." Gasping slightly, Danny hurried back up the stairs to his unfinished snack. Why were his parents making an invention for him? Did they know about what really happened during the accident…about his ghost powers?

He didn't have time to speculate further as his parents burst into the room, both beaming proudly. Looking up at them, he swallowed the bite of cheese he'd stuffed into his mouth right before they'd rushed in, trying to look innocent and unsuspecting.

"Um, hi…" Before he could ask them what they wanted, his mom had grabbed his arm and pulled him up from his chair.

"Sweetie, we've got something we'd like you to see. It's our latest invention; the Fenton Finder IV—it reveals a ghost no matter what form it's in!" Choking slightly, Danny tried to pull out of his mother's grasp.

"R—reveals its form? Why would you need—" His father cut him off, dragging him down the stairs into the basement.

"Oh, don't be so worried, son! This invention will solve all of our ghost problems. Your mother and I were up all night inventing this little beauty; what do you think?" Both of his parents stood beside him, looking at him expectantly.

"Uh, well, it's…nice……what does it do?"

Maddie leaned over the machine excitedly, pointing to various buttons on the panels.

"Well, the whole thing runs off of ectoplasmic energy, but since we couldn't get much of that there are also a few back-up batteries stored in there for when it runs out. This button here will send out a signal that will cause the ghost to reveal itself no matter what form its taken! Of course it only works in a 10-foot radius." Danny stared down at his mom incredulously, wondering why they always picked him to show their new experiments to.

Slowly backing away from the invention, he moved towards the stairs.

"Umm, that's cool guys, but…I've got a lot of homework to do, so I'd better get upstairs and do it." Before he could make his grand escape, his dad grabbed his arm and brought him close to the machine.

"Come on, Danny, just stay around until we show you what it does." Gulping loudly, Danny tried to struggle out of his dad's grip, but there was no escaping unless he let go or phased out, which at the moment wasn't an option.

Jack leaned over the machine and pressed the large red 'on' button, causing the machine to give out the same soft hum Danny had heard earlier. The only difference was this time he was standing 20 inches from it instead of 20 feet, and his secret was about to be blown. As the humming got louder, both of his parents got more excited.

"There must be a ghost nearby, it's charging up!!" Closing his eyes, Danny waited for the inevitable tingling sensation that meant he was changing into his ghost form…but nothing happened.

He cautiously opened one eye, and was relieved to see a thin wave of smoke rising up from the machine again. Sighing heavily in relief, he managed to rescue his arm from his father's iron grip and make his way to the staircase.

"Uh, too bad it didn't work, but it sounds cool. I'm just going to go get some work done now…" Seeing that neither parent realized he was even present, he slipped back up to the kitchen, grabbed the rest of his cheese, his orange and his backpack and bolted up the staircase to the safety of his room.

Back in the basement, the two elder Fentons bent over their machine, wondering what had gone wrong this time. Maddie sighed heavily and leaned against a nearby workbench.

"We were so close to finding out the truth, Jack. You know he'll never tell us on his own." Her husband ran his large hands through his graying hair, slowly shaking his head in defeat.

"I know Maddie, but we'll just have to work on it until we get it right." She nodded silently, and with a resigned sigh settled down to prove to themselves that it was impossible for their son to be half ghost.

-The End-

Oooh, and you thought they didn't know…:D well, I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave me a review telling me what you thought, as well as any editing concerns you have. My cousin's swamped with her own fic and couldn't edit this for me, so I'm hoping it's okay. Thanks!!!

-Darkness on the Water-


End file.
